image [https://i.imgur.com/dpvV9Fn.png]

Multiple weeks had gone by and it was now the day before LaVeda University’s winter break. Carmen was currently having another intense training session with Varric at the break of dawn.

She had made massive progress with her use of abilities, applying principles to them that she had never thought of before. Now that Carmen could cast abilities with just mere thoughts, her combat possibilities had opened up significantly.

Carmen dipped and dodged as Varric sent bolts of fire towards her from a distance. Despite their destructive force, the flames were swiftly sent flying in different directions, not making it through Carmen’s gravitational barrier.

She quickly closed the gap on Varric, but once she entered his space, a bright yellow runic symbol appeared on the ground underneath her. Carmen noticed the trap a moment too late and leapt into the air, hoping she could dodge it last minute. She closed her eyes tight and braced for the impact.

However, after a brief moment, she felt the cold winter air blowing all around her. Carmen opened her eyes and saw that she was floating a few meters off the ground, hovering above Varric.

“What!? I’m flying??” She exclaimed, not sure of how she accomplished this impressive feat.

Carmen quickly composed herself and began to zip around in the air, crossing above the treeline and looking out at the top of the forest.

“Look Varric, I can fly!!” She yelled with an excited grin, happily dashing in circles.

Unfortunately, Carmen's moment of bliss was cut short as she had a slight lapse of judgement. She plummeted down to the ground and crashed into a pile of snow, sending white powder in all directions.

“Not bad kid, but you lost focus…” Varric said with an underwhelmed tone, not entirely impressed by her accomplishment.

“Yeah, I know. But still, I never even thought that I would be able to fly.”

Carmen let out an embarrassed chuckle as she dusted snow off of her uniform. Varric crossed his arms and sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.

“It’s insane to me that you never realized just how strong your ability has the potential to be. Gravity is all around us and you can bend it to your will. Honestly, flight should’ve been one of the first things you tried…” Varric remarked as he took a step back and created more space between them.

“Now, enough of training your Void affinity for now. We’re going to move on to your other one. Those abilities need to be cultivated together, otherwise you’ll have issues with your Manifest.” He added.

“Ah, right. I had an issue with that when I first became awakened. I had to go to a shaman in Siestro to fix me up. It was a whol-.”

“I didn’t ask. Now hurry up, we don’t have all day, kid.”

Varric still had zero interest in learning about anything related to her past, finding her tangents to be incredibly annoying. Carmen sucked her teeth and began to kneel down, placing her palm on the ground. She exerted her Core Energy and her shadow began to grow in size, becoming more fluid with each passing second.

“Try to think of what your Dark affinity could possibly do. Picture it in your head and feel how the energy shifts throughout your body.” Varric said, watching her intently as she expelled more of her power.

Carmen closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, causing her body to glow with a sinister black aura. Varric took notice of this and was immediately on guard, feeling a sense of unease welling up inside of him. Suddenly, the shadowy puddle around Carmen expanded outwards in a rapid fashion.

The entire ground began to be covered in black ink, rushing out like a raging torrent. As it reached nearby trees and boulders, it latched onto them and started pulling them into the ink. Her energy continued to grow and everything around was being devoured by her inky shadow, consuming whatever was in sight.

The ink eventually reached Varric, and to his surprise, it raced after him in a violent manner. It was almost as though the ink had a mind of its own, eagerly wanting to pull him into the murky depths below. Varric quickly leapt into the air as his light barrier activated, blocking the attack completely.

‘What the hell is with this stuff? Why does it feel so dangerous all of a sudden?’

He couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing as he dodged his way around multiple trees, skillfully escaping the voracious ink. Everything the ink crossed over was quickly consumed while it continued its unending chase. Once he realized how dangerous the situation was becoming, Varric needed to put an end to her show and fast.

“Carmen, that’s enough!!” He yelled out, now having to get somewhat serious in order to evade the increasingly more powerful attack.

Despite Varric’s many calls, Carmen remained in her knelt position, not moving an inch from her spot. He quickly dashed over to her and before the ink could provide protection, Varric flicked her on the forehead with incredible force. Carmen went flying backwards and crashed into a nearby tree, quickly coming back to her senses.

Curiously, as she looked up at him, Varric noticed something strange about her. Carmen’s once vibrant red eyes were dull gray and completely devoid of any color. However, just as fast as he noticed this, her eyes shifted back to normal.

'The hell was that about?'

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He cocked his head to the side in confusion, but before he could ask about what he saw, Carmen let out an irritated yell.

“Ouch! Why did you hit me so hard??” She exclaimed as she rubbed her forehead, not realizing what had just happened.

Once Carmen began to stand, the ink rapidly receded into her shadow and turned back to normal.

“When I say stop, you stop. Got it? Almost gave me a heart attack there.”

“Gave you a heart attack? All I did was just-.”

Carmen went quiet as soon as she saw the aftermath of her Dark abilities. The entire area was completely empty and devoid of all trees, shrubs, and rocks. Even the snow itself was gone entirely.

“What!?” She exclaimed, her jaw on the floor as she couldn’t fathom this much carnage in such a short time.

“Yeah, what indeed. That Dark affinity of yours is way too dangerous. You need to get a handle on it and fast.” Varric replied, his voice sounding even more serious than usual.

“All I did was just visualize my power, like you told me to. When I did that, I got this really weird feeling of hunger. Felt as though I hadn’t eaten in weeks. I didn’t think it would cause all of this to happen.”

Carmen looked out at the empty field with slight concern, still not understanding how she accomplished such a feat.

“Well, either way, we’re going to be focusing on that very heavily in the next few sessions. I can’t have you pulling shit like that again.”

Varric started to walk towards a fallen tree where their belongings were located, taking a seat in the process.

“We’re done for today.” He said, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out his trusty silver flask.

Varric took a few swigs as Carmen approached, judging him internally. She stopped and pondered a question, feeling curious about something.

“Hey Varric, sorry if this is a bit random, but.. Are you ever going to tell me what happened to you after the war?” She softly asked, taking a seat next to him.

"Ugh, this again? Why do you keep asking me pointless quest-"

"Geez, is it really that weird for me to have an interest in you?! I just want to learn more about my teacher!" Carmen exclaimed, cutting Varric off completely.

His eyes went wide at her sudden blow up, surprised to see Carmen show such a defiant side to herself. After a brief pause, he took another swig and let out a light sigh.

“Nothing really… I just stopped seeing the point in a lot of things.” He said, looking out towards the field with a fairly blank expression.

“What do you mean?”

“As I got deeper into mercenary work, I became quite the prideful man. Always feared and revered as being the best. Tch, felt like I was untouchable…”

Varric took another long swig of his alcohol.

“When Empress Ramos offered me the opportunity to fight one of the strongest and most elusive Vestas in Alaira, I couldn’t possibly say no. My pride simply wouldn't allow me to refuse… I, the great Varric Clover, could prove to the world once and for all that I had no equal and that I was indeed the best..”

As he spoke, a chilling winter breeze cut through the air. Carmen continued to listen, latching onto every word coming from his deep voice.

“However… That day when I fought your sister… I realized just how weak and pathetic I am against real power. I was so proud of my abilities and accomplishments, and yet those same abilities didn’t matter, not even a bit against that woman…”

He sighed once again, beginning to wallow in his sorrows while Carmen remained silent.

“It’s all just so meaningless. Getting strong, being strong, accomplishing great things, all of that bullshit, it’s useless. No matter how hard you train, no matter how good you get, you’ll never be the best. What’s the point of it all? Tch, waste of time if you ask me…”

He took one final drink from his flask, causing brown fluid to race down his lip and onto his beard. Varric's eyes began to glaze over as the alcohol coursed through his body, putting him in a slight drunken stupor.

As Carmen sat there, she began to feel incredibly irritated by his depressive and drunken confession. Here she was, doing all of this training and trying to better herself, all while her teacher had these kinds of feelings. It made no sense to her.

“That’s such bullshit..” Carmen suddenly said with a cold tone, glaring at Varric with her vibrant red eyes.

He slowly looked over with a surprised expression, finding her colorful use of words very uncharacteristic.

“Ever since I’ve trained with you, you’ve been telling me all this stuff about pushing myself and not getting complacent. Preaching and drilling into my head the importance of growth and not worrying about the strength of others compared to myself!” She added, raising her voice as she stood up.

“How can you tell me these things so easily, but at the same time not believe in what you preach!? If what you say is true, then what’s the point of teaching me all this stuff!? Am I a waste of your time too? Just a pointless use of effort?”

Carmen’s voice continued to echo through the chilly silence. Unsurprisingly, Varric didn’t respond, he simply sat there with his head looking towards the ground.

“Tsk. I’m leaving. I’ll see you in a week after my winter break. Don’t want to waste anymore of your time.”

She quickly gathered her things and entered the forest on her own, her mood now completely soured. Varric continued to sit there, deep in thought. He started to bring the flask towards his mouth but stopped as soon as it touched his lips.

In a fit of frustration, he tossed it to the ground. Carmen’s words ate away at his mind with great intensity, causing him to grumble and curse under his breath.

Once he stood up, Varric stumbled over and dropped to his knees, landing in the cold snow. He eventually looked up and saw his reflection in the puddle of alcohol coming from his flask. Varric stared back at himself with a fairly disgusted expression, feeling incredibly bothered by Carmen’s direct and scathing remarks.

image [https://i.imgur.com/d60vRFl.png]

Once Carmen returned to her dorm room, she took a bath and got herself ready for morning classes. As she buttoned up her shirt, Carmen saw Elise packing a bag with clothes and multiple books.

“You getting ready for your trip tomorrow?” Carmen asked curiously.

“Yeah. I’m going to visit my Grandmother in Olunas City. Haven’t seen her since I came here.” Elise replied, grabbing the special edition book that Carmen had bought her earlier in the school year off of her shelf.

“That’s nice. But, why bring so many books? There’s no way you’ll read all of those in just a week.”

Carmen glanced at the bag and couldn’t imagine anyone reading that much during a break.

“It’s just to keep me busy. Although, my grandma might not want me to only spend my time reading. She’ll probably want me to help around her shop or something.” Elise replied with a slight shrug.

“Screw it. If you want to read, then read. She can handle her shop on her own. She’s managed so far…”

As Carmen replied, Elise noticed that her tone was rather cold and she had this strange energy about her.

“You seem different these days, Carmen. Everything alright with you?” She asked, wondering where her newfound confidence and swagger came from.

“Never been better.”

Elise shrugged it off and grabbed one last book from her shelf. However, a small photo fell from it and landed in front of Carmen.

Carmen picked it up and looked it over, wondering who was in it. The photo had a woman with short black hair hugging a young Elise. They were both smiling and having a good time with one another.

“Is this your mother?” Carmen asked as she handed the photo back to Elise.

“Yeah. It’s been about five years since she was sold off and that was the last time I saw her… One of these days I’ll find her and bring her home. I just have to.”

She clenched her fist tightly until Carmen placed her hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sure she’s out there somewhere. You’ll find her.”

Carmen smiled and proceeded to leave the room, attending her last few classes before winter break began, marking the end of the first semester.